IMMIGRATION
Immigration is another issue that Obama is likely to bring up in the context of jobs and the economy, where he could highlight the benefits of a legal labor force and the ways in which high-skilled immigrant labor could reinvigorate a sluggish U.S. economy. Obama told labor leaders and immigrant advocates that his address will call for a rewrite of immigration laws, and he informed House Democrats that such a rewrite is a "top and early priority" for his second term. It's unclear how specific Obama will get in his speech on Tuesday night, but we know what he wants from a comprehensive immigration reform bill: a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, enhanced border security, punishment for businesses that knowingly hire undocumented workers, and a streamlined legal immigration system.
ALLIANCES AND TRADE
Besides the three topics above, administration officials have been rather quiet about the foreign-policy issues that will come up in Tuesday's speech -- a dearth of information that the vice president nicely filled in during his Feb. 2 speech in Munich. The State of the Union, Biden said, will reflect the president's interest in "strengthening our alliances, which are … essential to our ability to meet our challenges in the 21st century," and in "continuing to take down barriers to trade, including with Europe, to spur growth on both sides of the Atlantic." Obama's commitment to democracy will not falter in his second term, according to Biden, who asserted that the State of the Union would address the importance of "engaging the democracies in Southeast Asia, Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and across the Middle East." Looks like the pivot to Asia is still on track.
AFGHANISTAN
With American troops still fighting overseas, Obama will discuss the drawdown of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan. The president has some decisions to make on that score -- in particular the next step in troop reductions and the size of the U.S. force that will remain after the war formally ends. On Tuesday, CNN's Jake Tapper reported that, according to "sources with knowledge" of the president's address, Obama will announce Tuesday night that by this time next year, 34,000 troops in Afghanistan will return home, reducing the U.S. military presence in the country by half.
If history is any guide, however, don't expect the president to spend much time discussing America's longest war. As Foreign Policy's Ty McCormick noted on Monday in a review of State of the Unions since 2011, "Ignoring Afghanistan has become something of a presidential tradition."
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